Project Flat Top
With helicopters increasingly at the center of Army doctrine as a result of the Howze Board's recommendations, it became apparent that a logistical gap would arise between the operational area and repair bases in the US.
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) John Sullivan, a respected Army aviator, conceived of the idea to convert a ship into a floating helicopter repair facility.
After considerable research, Sullivan and his team selected the World War II Curtiss-class seaplane tender USS Albemarle (AV-5).
When progress slowed for almost a year, Sullivan bypassed Army leadership and persuaded influential Congressman Mendel Rivers of South Carolina, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, to support the project.
Rechristened as USNS Corpus Christi Bay (T-ARVH-1), a civilian United States Merchant Marine (USMM) crew was chosen to operate the bridge, engine room, and man the ship's watches.
The ship offered the same echelon of depot-level service available in the U.S. at the Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center in Corpus Christi, Texas while it served off the coast of South Vietnam for 6½ years.
In January, 1962, Sullivan passed a highly selective screening process and was temporarily assigned to attend the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.
On 20 August 1962, the Howze Board proposed significant changes to Army doctrine, including the use of helicopters for reconnaissance, command and control, troop transport, attack gunships, aerial rocket artillery, medical evacuation, and supply.
Sullivan assumed broad responsibility for initial development of a "floating aircraft maintenance facility" (FAMF) and put considerable effort into selling it to senior Army leadership.
Sullivan made trips to Germany, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, both coasts of the United States and many bases between, gathering information.
[14][17][4] In August 1964 Besson directed the Transportation Materiel Command to explore the feasibility of using a ship as a floating maintenance facility to provide helicopter support in the Far East.
[21][22] Sullivan had to convince the Navy to give up a vessel to another service branch, which was highly unusual, particularly after the interservice difficulties following the establishment of the United States Air Force when the Army wanted organic fixed-wing aviation assets.
On 7 August 1964, the United States Maritime Administration transferred the ship, earmarked for conversion to a floating aeronautical maintenance facility for helicopters, back to the Navy.
[4] Eventually Sullivan contacted Congressman Mendel Rivers of South Carolina, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Rivers believed that Congress should set the priorities for the Secretary of Defense[27]: 132 and he successfully persuaded Robert McNamara to support the project.
[4] Sullivan repeatedly traveled between ARADMAC in Corpus Christi, the shipyard in Charleston, and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. to resolve the many challenges inherent in converting Albemarle to a floating helicopter repair depot.
The entire stern transom area and the prominent seaplane ramp aft was replaced by a built-up superstructure topped by a 50 by 150 feet (15 m × 46 m) helicopter landing pad.
[13] All remaining seaplane-related structures and equipment along with all World War II weapons, electronics, rangefinders, magazines, and support gear were removed.
The second innovation was the technical data library that contained a complete set of 180,000 engineer drawings on film of aircraft systems, components, and special tools.
[33][6] Previously, damaged helicopters had to be transported 8,000 miles (13,000 km) back to the US for refit; with the advent of this new ship type, repairs could be accomplished near the forward areas.
He then received an additional year of training at the Army aircraft maintenance facility in Corpus Christi, as did most soldiers who served on the ship.
[37] The ship moved back to Vũng Tàu in 1970 which was in the vicinity of the parent 34th General Support Group[4] and operated about 1 mile (1.6 km) off the coast.
[33] To avoid a repeat of the successful sapper attack on the escort carrier turned helicopter transport USS Card, security procedures were stepped up while in port.
[19] Corpus Christi Bay had the largest and best equipped fabrication facilities in Vietnam, including milling machines, lathes, molten-salt heat-treating ovens, metal-plating, chemical and metallurgical testing, and presses.
They were sometimes brought to the ship via helicopter, but they were typically delivered by an amtruc (wheeled 15-ton amphibious truck) or a “mike boat” (converted WWII landing craft).
[19][47] Space had to be found aboard one of the Seatrain chartered freighters or one of the converted World War II escort carriers such as USNS Croatan.
[6] Service members also went ashore regularly to provide medical care, food, gifts, clothing, and toys at a Vietnamese orphanage near Cam Ranh Bay.
Relying on the Law of the sea that allows a ship in distress to enter the nearest port, she anchored at Papeete on Tahiti, French Polynesia.
[4][19] The Floating Aircraft Maintenance Facility allowed the Army to repair helicopters in-theater instead of shipping them back to Corpus Christi in the United States.
He was credited with the planning, creativity, management ability, and leadership that made the ship available during the peak period when aircraft maintenance was initially needed in 1966.
